Türkiye’s Foreign Ministry commemorated the Muslim Turkish civilians killed in the Tripolitsa massacre on Sept. 23, marking its 205th anniversary.
In a statement on social media, the ministry said the Muslim Turkish population of the Peloponnese, known in Turkish as Mora, had been systematically massacred between 1821 and 1830.
It described the killings as a “policy of extermination” accompanied by the planned destruction of places of worship, religious schools, cemeteries and other cultural heritage sites.
Greek insurgents captured Tripolitsa on Sept. 23, 1821, during the uprising against Ottoman rule that had begun earlier that year.
Thousands of Muslim and Jewish civilians were killed after the city fell.
The city, in southern Greece, had been home to Turkish, Greek and Jewish communities, as well as migrants from other Ottoman territories.
Theodoros Kolokotronis, a leading commander of the Greek revolt, remains a national hero in Greece, with statues honoring him across the country.
